


A Kind of Magic

by ambiguously



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Jedi Training (Star Wars), M/M, Magic, Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-05 04:03:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21207080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambiguously/pseuds/ambiguously
Summary: Jedi were not wizards or witches. They didn't perform magic.





	A Kind of Magic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fairleigh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fairleigh/gifts).

The first lesson drilled into them by the Jedi who taught them was that manipulation and control of the Force was not a kind of magic. What they all did was tap into existing energy patterns and through the use of their training, shape the environment around them into a more pleasing pattern. They weren't witches or wizards, no matter what the old stories said.

For example, Jacen mused to himself, Ben was not working a magic spell as he sat on the hand-knotted rug in Jacen's sparsely decorated room. Instead he was using a skill he had been born with, commanding the Force in such a way that the glittering stones before him overcame their gravitational attraction to the planet. As his fingers moved, they danced in the air in front of him in time to the beat of the music playing from a small speaker on the side table, propped up on a centuries-old book of not-magic Jacen should have been studying tonight. Ben wasn't magical.

The stones themselves weren't magical. Jacen kept them in a shallow bowl beside his bed. The blue crystal had been a birthday gift from Sabine when he'd turned four, finally too old to put everything he saw into his mouth but young enough to spend hours watching sparkles move across the many faces as though he had all of hyperspace in his palm. Jacen had found the other two stones during his explorations of the various worlds he had visited first with Luke, then with both Luke and Ben, prior to choosing this planet as the site of the new school. The glittering surfaces were pleasing to the eye, and they reminded him of people he cared about and experiences he'd enjoyed.

The music wasn't magical at all, although he acknowledged most real music had a touch of the supernatural inside. Not this song, though: the tinny sounds filling the room were from some popular band who'd made it big five years ago with catchy yet mindless romantic tunes, and who were already drifting into obscurity. Jacen had built this speaker from spare parts, and he'd given a second cobbled-together version to Ben. They could tune in to the audio waves of the Holonet feed whenever this quiet planet got too lonely and spooky. With a flick of a switch, they could feel like they were back living in civilization instead of arguing over whose turn it was to dig the latrine. Jacen need only shut his eyes, and he'd be dancing in some Coruscanti club, sneaking out from the Academy after hours with his friends for some drinks and some fun, not worried about the future. Ben could pretend he was spending time with his own friends back on Hosnian Prime, or wherever his mom's job had taken him before he'd been sent to live with his uncle. Not magic, certainly not time travel, just a piece of home, carried via technology into their ears.

This planet hummed with the Force. That wasn't magical, though it did make using their powers easier. The extra help was good for the new students not accustomed to their own abilities. Luke's two older pupils, who'd known what they were their whole lives, found their powers to be stronger here, less bidden to the sudden bursts and confusions of the emotional swings that had chased them both through adolescence.

Ben twirled his fingers, and the stones followed. "What do you think?" Candlelight flashed off the facets of the hovering crystals, filling the dark walls and low ceiling with imitations of stars flowing past them.

"It's perfect," Jacen said, his eyes following the shimmering lights around his room with longing. His real home was nowhere and everywhere, moving between the stars, and Ben knew it. Seeing even this echo gave him a comfort he'd missed.

"You're welcome," said Ben. The stones kept up their dance as he kissed Jacen.

There was no magic here at all, so they made their own instead.


End file.
